"Rapture is probably one of the most unique places ever invented," he said. "I have to imagine that there are many stories that could be told within its walls."

He's right. Rapture may indeed be the most unusual setting yet developed in a video game, a metropolis fashioned after an unforgettable early twentieth-century art movement and forged by a free market fanatic at the bottom of the sea. You have to wonder if literary luminaries like George Orwell or Aldous Huxley wouldn't be as impressed as we are, most of all with the second game (PCW Score: 5 out of 5).

While 2K's Kamper admitted he'd love to see the series expanded through alternative media like toys, movies, and books, he didn't offer details, though others in years past have.

In June 2008, 2K--then called Take-Two Interactive--revealed plans were in place for a third BioShock game to coincide with the release of a movie version. That's right, a BioShock movie. There's even an IMDB page for the project, though it's half-built on rumor and innuendo.

Director Gore Verbinski (Mouse Hunt, The Ring, all three Pirates of the Caribbean flicks) was originally on board to direct, but now shares 'producer' billing with Eric McLeod and Strauss Zelnick. You may recognize the new director, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, as the guy responsible for 28 Weeks Later, the manic British zombie flick starring Robert Carlyle. Better than the original, as far as I'm concerned. Color me cautiously optimistic if Fresnadillo's director role sticks.

Incidentally, if you really have somehow beat BioShock 2 already and you're not much for online shenanigans, go play through the story again. Crank up the difficulty--top that sucker out. Turn off the Vita Chambers, the plasma-filled cylinders that magically bring you back to life if you die and rob the gameplay of too much peril. Find all the audio logs. Save (or condemn) every Little Sister available. Defeat three Big Daddies in a single fight without croaking. Or, hardest one of all, get through an ADAM-gathering session without taking damage--your or the Little Sister.